


you know who i'll be waiting for

by dames_for_jamesbarnes



Series: you and me, we're a team [2]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Comfort, Established Relationship, F/F, Flirting, Hospitals, Jealousy, Mentions of surgery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:41:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27593612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dames_for_jamesbarnes/pseuds/dames_for_jamesbarnes
Summary: And Emily is still smiling, thinking about you, thinking about the both of you, when she feels Derek’s elbow nudge her on her side.“Whoa. Look at her,” he says urgently, and her eyes flutter open, after she forces her face back into neutral, back into agent.At first, she has to take a moment. The lights she hates so much make it hard to blink, and she squints down the hall while she adjusts. But then she notices the gait. The smooth easy steps, the light curl of lips, the way eyes meet hers and absolutely brighten. She doesn’t mistake that at all. She can’t.After all, she bought you those shoes for your birthday. She’d know them anywhere.
Relationships: Emily Prentiss/Reader
Series: you and me, we're a team [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2017174
Comments: 5
Kudos: 66





	you know who i'll be waiting for

**Author's Note:**

> originally this prompt over @qvid-pro-qvo on tumblr. 
> 
> would love a fem!reader x emily where you're a surgeon at a nearby hospital and you're dating emily but the team doesn't know yet, and you get hit on by team or others and em gets jealous!! or just em getting jealous but its cute and fluffy and sweet :)

The case is local, almost painfully so. It’s these cases that make Emily double-check the locks, these cases that make her shoulders roll back so she can straighten her spine. Every corner seems to hide a shadow, and Emily knows how to read all of them, blinking slowly and steadily as they move through the city. She’s forced to, as her and Derek ride through the city, stopping form house-to-house-to-house to find out what they can find out.

The bedrooms are analyzed. The family life ripped apart by a murder and again by her and Derek’s questions. And when they leave, they give over what they have, hopefully for some kind of result.

Luckily they find a pattern in the victims. A similar surgery that connects them all to the unsub. It’s that pattern that leads them to the hospital they’re at not, tapping their toes as they wait for a surgeon to consult on what the surgery entails, what it means, what it can result in. It’s for that reason that they’re leaning against a blank white wall, and it’s for that reason that Emily lets out a huff of air.

“Hate hospitals,” she murmurs, her head hitting the wall behind her. It’s a solid thunk that she gets, and she hears a similar one next to her, Derek’s own neck tilted back just like hers.

“Not alone in that one,” Derek sighs out, and he shifts his feet, slides his hands into his pockets. “The smell.”

“The lights,” Emily counters, and they look at each other with a look that screams how much they hear each other.

Of course, hospitals aren’t all bad for Emily Prentiss. But she’s not going to tell Derek that. That’s not his business. Or anyone’s at all.

“What are we even doing here, Prentiss?” he mutters. “We should be back at headquarters with Hotch and Rossi.”

“They wanted us to follow up, so we follow up,” Emily sighs. Despite herself, she smirks, shrugging as the minutes drag on. “Besides. It’s not like this is something that Reid or Garcia could’ve gotten for us in about… uh, two minutes.”

Derek’s answering snort makes Emily chuckle, and soon the two of them are loose, shoulders relaxing, jaws unclenching.

“They’ll call if they need us,” she reminds him, and tries not to think too hard about how much she’s reminding herself. It’s the end of a long day, end of a long week, a long case, and with that her eyes glance around the hallway before sliding closed, fingers tapping on her thighs as she… drifts.

“I know,” Derek tells her, and soon the silence they settle into is comfortable.

Emily finds her thoughts scattered, surprisingly so, and she takes a moment to organize them, recategorize. There’s the usual stress of an unsolved case, pushed behind the knowledge that they’re always, _always_ inching closer. There’s the exhaustion of a long week, tempered by the fact that there comes an end at some point. And then her thoughts drift to you, and she finds herself smiling despite the profiler part of her begging for neutrality.

This is _your_ hospital after all. This is where you work. You’re on call today, drifting in and out of snooze as Emily lifted herself up early, once again, kissed your cheeks around the blankets you’d pulled up high and tight against you. As she thinks about that vision, she bets anything that you’re still at home, the ten-minute drive enough justification to linger there instead of finding a call room inside the hospital, instead of hiding out in the cafeteria.

And Emily is still smiling, thinking about you, thinking about the both of you, when she feels Derek’s elbow nudge her on her side.

“Whoa. Look at _her_ ,” he says urgently, and her eyes flutter open, after she forces her face back into neutral, back into _agent_.

At first, she has to take a moment. The lights she hates so much make it hard to blink, and she squints down the hall while she adjusts. But then she notices the gait. The smooth easy steps, the light curl of lips, the way eyes meet hers and absolutely brighten. She doesn’t mistake that at all. She can’t.

After all, she bought you those shoes for your birthday. She’d know them anywhere.

Emily glances to Derek for a moment, and almost wishes she didn’t. After all, Derek’s gaze is just the wrong side of neutral, his smile winning, his stance easy. He knows that he’s on a case, and yet his eyes scan and wander and Emily’s blood begins to boil.

You have the weariness that comes with ending a case, with desterilization and a job well done. Your hand reaches up to tug at your scrub cap, and Emily can’t help the way her heart skips a beat at the sight. A mess. A big, beautiful mess. A mess that she’d give anything to push her fingers through in that moment, two long days ending, finally, finally, finally. Emily finds her fingers scratching at her thighs, lightly, just to satisfy the urgency.

“Agents Morgan and Prentiss?” you call to them, looking at each of them in turn, and suddenly Emily’s eyes widen. She understands now, why your steps carried you towards them and not past them, why your smile is so big and bright. To Derek, perhaps it just seems friendly, but to Emily she knows the hint of playfulness that usually earns you tickling at your sides. Your hand reaches to shake both of theirs, and you dare the slightest squeeze of Emily’s before you pull back. No favoritism shown, no evidence of prior knowledge.

You know that Emily’s team doesn’t know. You know that your relationship, brilliant and everything hoped for, is still hidden. So when Derek smiles you smile back and when you turn to Emily your eyes are the only thing softening.

“Sorry to keep you two waiting,” you say. “I just got out of a case, needed to clean up a bit. Pleasure to meet you both.”

“The pleasure is ours,” Derek tells you, and Emily feels her fingers scratch against her pants again. 

“You mind if we walk and talk? I haven’t eaten for a few hours, need some fuel,” you ask, and before long the three of you are moving through the hospital’s winding halls. Your steps are practiced, Derek and Emily’s less so, following behind, closely. “So. What can I do for the FBI?”

“We were wondering if you could walk us through a surgery,” Emily tells you, as the cafeteria looms closer, as your hand reaches to rub at the indent in your nose where she knows your mask sat…

“We need some information about what kind of recovery time would be indicated for this particular procedure. We think our unsub –“

“Unsub?” you ask, and Emily feels a smile despite herself. You _know_ what an unsub is. “Forgive me, I know what a thoracotomy is, but. You’re going to have to educate me.” 

And Derek does. Derek explains what he can, and the three of you sit down at a table. You pretend to pay attention to Derek, or at least, that’s what Emily tells herself. Meanwhile your feet move so that they’re against Emily’s own. Every so often, as Derek and you converse, talk, and you in return educate him, Emily’s gaze can’t help but linger on the necklace you have on. It’s Emily’s. You’re wearing Emily’s necklace, and you’re wearing the shoes she gave you, and your shoe won’t stop tapping against hers –

It’s safe to say that Emily’s distracted for the rest of the time. Unable to ignore the fact that Derek is monopolizing the time with you, and unable to resist the way that your gaze meets hers occasionally, soft and gentle and loving. Adoring. Amazing.

_We’ll talk about this tonight_ , Emily texts furiously when the hospital doors close behind her. She can still feel the way your eyes felt as they scanned her, the way your toes tapped against hers. Your response is immediate.

**Talk about what? ;)**

“You think Hotch would mind if we made a return visit?”

That breaks Emily out of her reverie. Thinking about you often brings her thoughts to a standstill, but Derek’s voice has her eyes shooting up, taking all of him in at once. “What’d you say?”

Her voice comes out sharper than she intended, and Derek’s glance at her from the driver’s seat tells her as much.

“C’mon, Prentiss, don’t pretend you weren’t eyeing her up, too,” he laughs, and Emily finds her heart pounding, blood rushing.

“Considering we both started out the trip acknowledging it was a waste of time –” she starts to counter, gritting her teeth, but Derek just shakes his head, lifting a hand up in surrender while his other keeps on the wheel.

“Okay, okay, I was just joking, but. I’m thinking you’re on my side here.” That’s his response, and he sticks to it, smirking in that knowing way that only further serves to drive Emily up the wall.

“Think whatever you want, Morgan. You’re the one reporting to Hotch when we get back.”

He just laughs again. The asshole, and Emily glances down when her phone buzzes again.

**Work hard. Love you.**

And just like that, the frustration seems to fade away. The irritation at Derek, the pent-up energy. It dips and dives and soon all that’s left is that little bit of joy, from those simple words.

There’s no need to be jealous. No need to be up in arms. And when it buzzes one last time, Emily has to swallow, has to call Hotch in a rush or else give up the gambit entirely.

**You know who I’ll be waiting for when I get home.**

Well. Yes. She does. 

She does, indeed. 

“Hotch,” Emily says, voice firm, when her boss picks up. “Tell me you have something. I’m ready for this case to be _over_.”

(Later, when Emily comes out to the team, and brings you with her, introduces you as her incredible badass surgeon girlfriend, she shoots Derek a look. And that look makes him scoff, shake his head, cross his arms over his chest as he looks at his partner and her partner, too. 

“So you _were_ eyeing her up,” he scoffs, and Emily just shrugs, the flutter in her chest something warm. 

“I don’t think I ever denied it,” she points out, and you start cackling next to her, earning a laugh from the whole room.)


End file.
